Svitolina dominates Halep to defend Rome title

Elina Svitolina eased through the Internazionali BNL d’Italia final against Simona Halep to win the Premier 5 title for the second year in a row.

The fourth-seeded Svitolina bageled Halep in the first set in just 19 minutes, winning 24 out of 32 points despite getting only 47% of her first serves in. In the second set, the top-seeded Halep managed to hold serve in the beginning, but Svitolina once again took a lead, 3-1. At 3-2 for Svitolina, Halep took an off-court medical timeout, but when play resumed the Ukrainian continued to hold on to her lead and comfortably won the final 6-0 6-4. Halep never even earned a break point in the match, even though there were moments when she threatened Svitolina, especially early in the second set.

After a first-round bye, Svitolina defeated Petra Martic in the second round, seed No.14 Daria Kasatkina in the third round, seed No.1 Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals, Anett Kontaveit in the semifinals, and eventually the world No.1 Halep. Svitolina has now won her fourth Premier 5 title and improved to 12-2 in WTA finals, having won eight straight WTA finals!

2 thoughts on “Svitolina dominates Halep to defend Rome title”

Simona I love you but … When you pay 300 euro for the final you want to see the best. 6-0 is not a score for final. The final is the most watch. People judge you aftervthe final. Thats reality. Peiple pay for show. I realy dont understand whats hapened. You miss 2% to be a very great champion. Never play on the other fault – you will never be a great champion Please control your game. Tou are number one. Show this.

Svitolina looks to be the favorite going into Roland Garros. Gabriel is right; 6-0 is no way to start a final..I like Darren Cahill (Simona’s coach), but is it time for a new coach? Someone to inspire her.